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My product is opinion

Just brainstorming....


When I am raising my products up the value scale, I am hitting a ceiling. I am not able to proceed much further because my product is not like a car that can be sold to anybody, my product is not like a toiletries that any body can pick off the shelf, not like corn flakes for everybody’s reach.

My product is little skewed. It is niche product. It is more like selling a fighter jet or rocket fuel, there only just so many who are interested and who would find it useful.

But my product is still a little different. I cannot guarantee it from doing anything spectacular. It’s like buying newspaper and finding blank pages. But once in a while there will be columns that may inform you of something significant or at best cause in significant change in your views. My product is opinion. I do not guarantee it will make you rich but I may help you in more ways than one. With each passing day, with each post getting a bit better, one day we may change the world. Good.

Back to mundane world, how do I sell this "product is opinion" to corporates who may like to see that it is their opinions that count. I am riding offensively into their comfort zone when I make that move, but I have no choice, my opinions are not to be suited to particular personality. If I suit my opinion to you, then it is your opinion in guise of mine!

So, how do I overcome this obstacle of other people accepting my opinion on day to day basis and become comfortable with it. Why do people look up to Bible everyday and become comfortable with it? What is it in Bible (for example) that people find it attractive and soothing? May be it is the trust they have in Bible. So, how do I create this trust so that they starting trusting me everyday, every morning.

Trust is certainly the hardest one to earn. And easiest one to be destroyed. And most difficult one to rebuild. Suddenly, trust looks so fragile. Like water. Like environment. Like the most important asset.

So, how do I get people to trust me and my product? Convince them to give me a try is a good place to start. But how much do I trust a salesman? Not much. If the product is sold, then probably they may not trust me. If they are willing to "try out" the product, even if for the heck of it, (aka trial offers/ introductory prices) they may see product in impartial light.

But that’s not enough, we need a sale. We need their opinions on how to improve my opinion. Get them involved. Hmmm... That looks exciting. Get them involved right from the creation stages. Let them create it, let them gain their trust; I will just be part of the system that generates the opinion (perhaps the only opinion generated by the system).

Ok. Get them involved.

How do I get them involved? I need to capture their interest. Two ways, one, I can tell them good dreams and stories; two, relieve them of their excruciating pain. Check if lion has a thorn in his paws. Hmmm... Look for lion with a thorn in his feet, whom I can help. Look for whom I can help and who needs me, I will absolutely be willing to help them out. They are buying the business, creating the format of product and consuming them too.

The key in the opinion market is: Let them bake the cake and let them eat it too.

To summarize:

§ Look for a lion with thorn in his paws

§ Help him out, or tell him you can help him

§ Get him involved in defining a product to help him

§ Let him drive the motivations and change, as you manage the moves from shadows

§ Help him and fix his problems

§ Convince him that you can solve his problems

§ Tell him you can solve any other problem he may have

§ Solve that problem too

§ Gain his trust

§ More niches

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